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The Mind-Bending, Gut-Wrenching Hypocrisy Of The Obama White House

After reviewing another round of Sunday talk shows appearances by Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod, it has become abundantly clear to me that the White House is not backing away from their outrageous attacks on the Chamber of Commerce. Which is incredible because the stench of hypocrisy is so overwhelming that even some Democrats are questioningthe White House’s “spaghetti strategy” of attacking organizations for allegedly using foreign money for their political donations.

Robert Gibbs, appearing on Meet The Press, continued to charge that the Chamber’s fund-raising practices pose a “threat to out democracy”, but apparently, only when Republicans are recipients of their donations…

“You’ve got a group that does take money from foreign countries, from companies in other countries. They are running $75 million worth of ads,” Gibbs said. “You and I don’t know exactly who is contributing to that, because there is a program that keeps all of their donors and involvement in these ads a complete secret. You’re not going to know today. You’re not going to know tomorrow. You’re not going to know after the elections.”

Gibbs claimed that “all the conservative groups,” including those co-founded by former Bush adviser Karl Rove, are spending a total of $399 million on the election and said “it does have the potential to derail our democracy.”

Obama threw down the gauntlet on the issue when he said at a rally this month that the Chamber was taking in “foreign money” while spending “huge sums” on the U.S. elections, a scenario he called a “threat to our democracy.”

Unless it’s Democrats receiving the money – then it’s okay…

Gibbs edged off the administration’s offensive during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Questioned on whether Democratic candidates like West Virginia Senate nominee Joe Manchin should “rebuff” the support they’re getting from the Chamber, Gibbs said he’s not concerned about them.

“Look, the Chamber has certainly a constitutionally protected right to air ads. Nobody is arguing that they can’t be involved in the election,” Gibbs said.

Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Obama’s top spokesman Robert Gibbs said the world’s largest business federation should “open up its books” and “show the American people” that the money is not coming from foreign sources, as the administration previously suggested.

“The chamber certainly has a constitutionally protected right to air ads, but the president has said that groups that support Democrats and Republicans ought to simply tell the American people where they get their money,” said Gibbs.

“They say, trust us, trust us … everything is cool. Everything is kosher. Don’t worry about it, but we’re not going to disclose,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Let me tell you something — people don’t disclose, there’s a reason.”

Spoken as one who knows…

Of course there is a reason the Chamber won’t disclose – they’re afraid of you guys.

Some may argue that raising such questions is unfair. But it was the president of the United States who opened the door to this line of inquiry. Obama recently said of the Chamber, “Groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections.” Well Obama’s allies in organized labor receive far more foreign money than the Chamber and are spending huge sums to influence American elections. They have boasted of having illegal foreign workers on their rolls and have admitted that they cannot be certain money from foreign nationals has not been used in their campaigns efforts against Republican candidates.

Now it’s time for the Democrats to start answering the same charges that they leveled against the Chamber and American Crossroads with such abandon. Is organized labor using foreign money to elect Democrats this November? To paraphrase the president, they could be — we just don’t know. But if Republicans win two weeks from now, and take control of the investigative committees of Congress, we may soon find out.